Uppercut
by Tony J. Hall
Summary: IN PROGRESS - Ichigo Kurosaki, Hero of the Soul Society, finally regains his powers after seventeen gruelling months. But when he's offered a seat as captain and refuses, what measures will the Gotei 13 take to force his hand, and how will the Shinigami-daikō react? Mostly A/U, set immediately after Kugō Ginjō's death and the Xcution/Fullbring arc.
1. The Shinigami-daiko, Kurosaki Ichigo

**A/N:** Behold! I haven't just been sitting around scratching my ass as I usually do between chapters for Fall from Grace. I've actually been wanting to put the idea behind this story (and coming chapters) into words for over a week now, but didn't really have any concrete thoughts to go off of, just vague images of events here or there. But it finally turned into the beginnings of a story, we'll see how it goes. I personally already think it's off to a vastly more superior start than Fall from Grace had, but then that's your decision to make. R&R, let me know what you think!

* * *

There stood a man in the middle of a hallway dimly lit by paper lanterns, with bright orange hair, wearing a standard Shinigami's shihakushō and holding something that vaguely resembled a giant deformed butcher's knife wrapped in white cloth, running his hand along the length of the blade gingerly.

"Are you done admiring Zangetsu, Ichigo?" A woman asked from behind a large door.

Ichigo smirked, "It's just good to be back in my normal clothes, with my normal powers, now that that whole Xcution business is taken care of."

The woman had to chuckle at the sentiment, "Don't kid yourself. You've never been 'normal' in any sense of the word."

"Tch, like you're one to talk, Rangiku. You'd drink enough sake to keep the entire Seireitei drunk for a week if Tōshirō let you."

"I can't argue there," The strawberry blond woman smiled at the newly reinstated Shinigami-daiko, "Now come on, the Head Captain wants to speak with you."

Ichigo was about to ask why but before he could articulate the thought Matsumoto disappeared behind the door, leaving it slightly ajar, inviting him inside the Captain's office in the First Division barracks. When the teen entered the room familiar faces beamed at him, a few were indifferent, namely the ever-stoic Byakuya Kuchiki. Two of the Visored had returned as captains, Shinji Hirako now headed the Third Division and Kensei Muguruma took up as captain of the Ninth Division. Kenpachi had a psychotic grin on his face as always.

_'Why are there only twelve captains, but thirteen lieutenants here?'_ Ichigo thought.

As Ichigo was pondering the situation, an elderly man spoke up, "Welcome back, Kurosaki."

"Yeah, good to be back," He said, "What's so important that everyone is gathered up here on short notice for?"

Everyone in attendance, save for the eldest Shinigami and the young human, stood ramrod straight. Ichigo glanced around, half expecting some bad news, half expecting the unexpected. The Head Captain, who rarely did so, opened one eye to survey the room before fixing his gaze on the human teen.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, now that you have your powers back, and have taken care of yet another threat to the Soul Society," The old man paused, "And learned the truth of the role of Substitute Soul Reaper and chosen to still ally with the Gotei Thirteen, I would offer you a seat of Captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads."

It was certainly unexpected, even to some of the lieutenants, _especially_ to some of the lieutenants. Rukia, Renji and even Shūhei were stunned speechless. That's to say nothing of the orange haired man that particular bombshell had just been dropped on.

"I-I..." Ichigo stammered, then took a deep breath, "Thank you. But I'm not really captain material, besides I'm not dead yet, strictly speaking. I've still got my human life to think about, and my sisters."

"If anyone is captain material it's the Hero of the Soul Society," A young woman with messy silver hair intruded into the conversation, "This is an immense honour, to become captain at your age, and you're a human no less. To refuse would be a grave insult to the entire Soul Society."

"Silence, Lieutenant Kotetsu," An elderly voice boomed from the far end of the room.

"I'm not trying to offend anyone. I do appreciate the offer but I can't do it. You all know me, I've always been a rule breaker. Breaking into the Seireitei, forcing my way through other Shinigami to stop an execution, even doing in three days what other people take decades of training to accomplish. You really want someone like that leading one of the divisions?"

Ichigo was half boasting, but completely serious. No matter how anyone looked at it, he was still a human, and about as far from responsible leadership as one could get. Although, he supposed if Kenpachi could do it there may be hope for him after he'd lived out his mortal life.

The same elderly voice rang out once more in reply, "I would like you to reconsider, Kurosaki. I am willing to make certain concessions to more comfortably accommodate you, you would indeed be a great asset to the Gotei Thirteen."

"Sorry, but my answer is still no. When I die an old man and move over to this side for good you can have me. Until then I'm content to live as a part-time shinigami."

"Very well. Your decision is regrettable. Suì-Fēng and Lieutenant Matsumoto, please stay behind, everyone else, dismissed."

At the Head Captain's words everyone filed out of the room. Ichigo had a slightly unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach, but shrugged it off as metaphorical butterflies at being offered to be officially recognized as one of the thirteen best Shinigami the Seireitei had to offer. He always knew he was strong, but he was always more of a trump card than a main player.

Rukia ambushed Ichigo outside in the courtyard, jolting him out of his introspection and immediately began berating the boy.

"Just what kind of idiot are you, Ichigo?"

"Wha-"

"You would have been the youngest Captain in the history of the Soul Society, even beating Captain Hitsugaya and you went and spat in Yamamoto-sotaichō's face."

"I already told everybody that I wasn't trying to offend anyone. You should know full well how difficult it is to juggle the duties of a Soul Reaper and be a human at the same time. I couldn't handle all the responsibilities of being a captain while maintaining an even semi-normal life in the world of the living if I tried."

"Ah cut him some slack, Rukia. Like I'd let this loser make captain before me anyway," A man with red hair called from a short distance away.

"How about I kick your ass again like last time and we'll see who the loser is?" Ichigo snapped.

"Ha, if you think you can handle me, bring it on."

Ichigo reached for Zangetsu at his comrade's quip, Renji followed suit and grabbed Zabimaru's hilt.

"Just what do you think you're doing, Abarai? Maybe you need a lesson about stealing another man's prey."

Just then Renji turned around to see a colossal man towering over him, tapping a zanpakutō with a badly chipped blade on his shoulder.

"Captain Zaraki, sir!" Renji choked.

Kenpachi grabbed Renji by the collar and picked him up off the ground almost effortlessly, "Listen here, if anyone's going to be the first one to fight Ichigo now that he's back, it'll be me."

"You tell 'em, Kenny!"

Just then a pink haired devil of incredibly short stature appeared on the giant's shoulder. Ichigo Flash Stepped away in a hurry before Renji was no longer the centre of attention. He felt kind of bad about it, but he was still a little rusty from being just an ordinary human for the past seventeen moths and Ichigo had no intention of dying in a duel just hours after his life finally went back to the way it should be.

Ichigo wandered the Seireitei, taking in the sights. It had only been about a year and a half since he'd been here but it felt much longer than that. As he passed the Squad Six barracks a voice called out to him.

"Kurosaki," It said.

The human turned to see a man with black hair in finely tailored clothing standing a few metres away.

"Byakuya, hey."

The captain was slightly annoyed at being addressed with such familiarity as he always was, but let it go.

"Kurosaki, I wish to have a word with you, follow me."

It was more of a demand than a request, regardless Ichigo followed the man into his office and took a seat before being offered. Almost immediately after the Captain sat a maid served some very expensive tasting tea to the both of them.

Byakuya sat his cup down and spoke, "You are a fool, Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo himself took a sip of tea, as though he hadn't heard the insult directed at him just now.

"Is that all you wanted to say to me? Couldn't you have just sent one of the Kuchiki's servants out to follow me around and insult me until I go back to the world of the living?"

"I did not invite you here simply to put you down, Kurosaki. You should have taken Yamamoto's offer."

Ichigo was slightly taken aback, "Yeah yeah, I already caught an ear-full from Rukia about it. But I thought you of all people would have opposed my promotion."

"I was the one who recommended you, of all the Visored only two agreed to come back to the Soul Society leaving us with an empty seat, I thought you were deserving of it."

Ichigo choked on the tea he was in the process of drinking.

"Are you feeling all right, Byakuya?"

"I am quite well, why do you ask?"

"The Byakuya Kuchiki I know would sooner commit ritual suicide than praise me of all people."

The head of the Kuchiki clan looked serious, and stared right at the boy in front of him, "You have matured since we last spoke, Kurosaki. Perhaps I have come to respect you in some small way since the war."

"This is the Soul Society, right? I don't think I took a wrong turn and ended up in Hell accidentally..." Ichigo said while looking around suspiciously, mostly for comedic affect. "But like I said back in the meeting, I can't do it."

"I see," Byakuya took another sip, "Then it is a matter of pride? You have worked for everything you have, you became a Soul Reaper to protect your family, then a second time to protect Rukia, and now a third time to defeat Ginjō. I can understand how accepting the offer would feel out of place."

"It's not a matter of pride. I've got my sisters to think about, then there's the rest of my friends. You know a lot of people would notice if I just disappeared one day."

"I am certain the rest of the ryoka would find there way here if they wished to see you badly enough."

Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "Look, that's not the point. Why are you trying so hard to convince me to stay? I would like to, but it's not a matter of what I want."

"As selfless as ever," Byakuya paused, "So if your friends and family were residents of the Soul Society then you would accept?"

Ichigo shot up almost before the last syllable had left the Noble's mouth and just about flew into a rage, sending the rather pricey looking ceramic cup to the hardwood floor, shattering it.

"If anyone goes near them the whole of the Gotei Thirteen will answer to me!"

"Please, calm yourself, Ichigo."

The young human's mind spun for a moment, trying to process what he'd just heard.

"Did you just call me by my first name?"

"Would you prefer I not?" The Captain asked.

"Er, no, I guess not. It just caught me off guard is all."

"You needn't worry, I was merely speaking hypothetically," The raven haired man stated while draining the last of his tea as a maid cleaned up Ichigo's broken cup. Ichigo had never been very good at sensing reiatsu, but he thought Byakuya's felt odd, almost as if he were hiding something. He just pushed the thoughts aside, perhaps calling Ichigo by his first name felt as unnatural for the Captain as it had for him and that's what he was sensing.

"Well, thanks for the tea, but I should get going. It's almost morning back in the world of the living, everyone should be back to normal and waking up by now."

Ichigo turned to leave and a voice called out behind him, "I would urge you to reconsider our proposition, Ichigo."

Ichigo simply held up a hand in farewell without turning around and grumbled something inaudibly as he opened the door to leave. Just when he walked though and closed the door behind him he saw Rukia standing there.

"Did Nii-sama just call you by your first name?"

"Yeah, I think he must be sick or something. You should probably take him to see Unohana," Ichigo said, half serious.

"Or Captain Kurotsuchi, I'm sure he'd like to dissect the head of one of the Seireitei's Four Great Noble families," Rukia added.

The two shared a laugh, Byakuya went about his paperwork and pretended not to hear them.

"Well anyway, I need to get going."

Ichigo bid the petite lieutenant farewell and walked off. He continued to wander the Seireitei for a while longer, taking in the sights, revisiting the places where he'd first fought Renji, Kenpachi and Ikkaku. He even visited Sōkyoku Hill and remembered his final battle with Byakuya, his rescue of Rukia and then, Aizen. This was the spot everyone had first learned of his treachery, and the Hōgyoku. So much trouble in such a small package. After the war Kisuke had been ordered to destroy it so no one else tried to use it to cause more problems. Ichigo became annoyed recalling the events, at just fifteen years old he'd been forced to cut down swaths of Arrancar and Espada just to get at one man. Then he realized something, if Ichigo were to become captain, he'd have to take over for Aizen as Captain of Squad Five, meaning that Momo Hinamori would be his lieutenant.

Ichigo let out a sigh, "Maybe I should go pay her a visit. It would be pretty rude to nearly kill her idol and then suddenly put on his shoes and take over."

The young human Flash Stepped over to the Squad Five barracks, more specifically the office where it's Captain and Lieutenant spent a lot of their time doing paperwork or various other tasks that kept things running smoothly, but mostly paperwork. Truth be told that was also a potent reason Ichigo didn't want the job. He was more the type to get out and throw a Getsuga Tenshō or two at whatever was causing problems, paperwork couldn't be handled in that fashion and as far as Ichigo was concerned it was better off being someone else's problem.

Ichigo raised a loose fist with his index and middle finger protruding slightly and rapped his knuckles on the door frame to make his presence known before entering without waiting for a response. The only sight that greeted him was a young man shorter than himself with white hair.

"Can I help you, Kurosaki?"

"Uhh, sorry. I must have the wrong building. I was looking for the Fifth Division barracks."

"You're in the right place then."

"Why are you here then, Tōshirō?" Ichigo asked, thoroughly confused.

"That's Ca-"

Ichigo interrupted the young man, "Yeah yeah, Captain Hitsugaya, I know the drill. Back to my original question. I thought you were captain of Squad Ten?"

He could swear a vein popped up into view on the young Captain's neck.

"I was, I put in for a transfer shortly after Central 46 locked Aizen away somewhere. Momo and I have been friends since we were children, I figured it would be easier on her if I filled in as her captain instead of someone else she barely knew."

"Oh," Was all Ichigo could manage.

"Your turn, why are you here, Kurosaki?"

"Well I wanted to drop in and say hi to Hinamori," The orange haired teen said.

"She's not here right now, what do you need her for?"

Ichigo could swear the white haired boy sounded a little on-edge now that his lieutenant had some into question.

"I just figured I should at least make my face known if I were to accept the offer for captaincy. I just assumed I'd take over this division."

"Yes, well as you can see that's quite unnecessary, you'd be taking over for me in Squad Ten, if you're that worried about what your lieutenant will think of you, go drinking with Rangiku."

"You just want to unload her on me so she won't be your problem any more," Ichigo taunted.

Tōshirō looked slightly flustered and fixed his gaze anywhere but at the other man in the room, then someone could be heard snickering from the doorway behind Ichigo where a short woman with black hair and a youthful appearance stood holding a stack of papers.

"Shirō was so glad to not have to force Rangiku to do her paperwork constantly when he first transferred here he almost cried tears of joy", Momo smiled.

"That's Ca-"

Once more the Captain was interrupted this time by his own Lieutenant, "Yeah yeah, Captain Hitsugaya, I know the drill."

Ichigo let out a boisterous laugh at Tōshirō's expense while Momo chuckled along, The white haired man simply turned a shade of red, partly out of embarrassment, but mostly out of annoyance.

"Shirō is right, Kurosaki. If you want to win over Rangiku you should go out and drink her under the table, if your liver can handle all that alcohol that is."

Ichigo moved to defend himself in a hurry, "It was just a hypothetical thing, I still can't accept the offer. Besides I'm not old enough yet."

"Human laws don't apply to the Soul Society, Kurosaki. There is no legal drinking age here in the Seireitei," Tōshirō said, now rubbing his temples in a vain attempt to pre-emptively alleviate the headache he felt coming on.

"Right, well I'll think about it. I've got to get going now, my sisters are probably wondering where I disappeared to this time," Ichigo said as he turned on his heel to leave.

Momo shouted after him, "Bye, Kurosaki-kun! Come back soon!"

Ichigo held up another lax hand in farewell and Flash Stepped away. No more detours this time, he headed straight for the Senkaimon to retrieve a Hell Butterfly and be on his way. No sooner had Ichigo arrived than the woman of discussion stepped out, a black butterfly leaving her side.

"Rangiku, hi. Did you just come back from the world of the living?" Ichigo questioned.

His sudden appearance startled the strawberry blond woman and she straightened up, somewhat tensely, "Y-yeah. Head Captain Yamamoto wanted me to take care of some business at Urahara's."

Ichigo just gave a quick nod, pretending to accept the explanation in spite of the uncharacteristic stammering and flustered attitude.

"Right, well then I'll see ya 'round," Ichigo waved as he stepped into the gateway.

Once he was out of sight he played over what had happened since he'd been there. Everyone seemed to be acting strangely around him. Maybe they were having a hard time hiding something, or maybe Ichigo had gotten better at reading people, he dared to think. All he knew is he wanted to get home, if Byakuya's and Yamamoto's words, and Rangiku's actions were any indication of what was going on.

_'I've got a bad feeling.'_ He thought.


	2. The New Captain is a Human!

A/N: I kind of dropped the ball on this one, I didn't proof-read thoroughly before posting and as such there are too many grammatical and spelling errors for my liking, so I've just gone through and cleaned those up, the chapter isn't any different after the update so if you've read it already there's no need to again, unless you want to of course.

_**Bold and italic text is a flashback.**_

_Italic text is an inner monologue or the thoughts of the characters._

* * *

Life had returned to normal since Ichigo got his powers back, or what was normal for him at least. Perhaps that wasn't technically one-hundred percent accurate, starting from a few days after his initial return to the Soul Society more hollows had been showing up than usual, and equally strange was the fact that every time Ichigo got there someone had already dealt with the beast. He didn't pay it any mind, he figured there had been more than just the local Shinigami assigned to Karakura town since the war, beefing up patrols to mop up the damage Aizen and his Espada had caused. Truth be told Ichigo was just glad he'd been wrong, nothing had happened to his sisters or anyone else in the two weeks he'd been back, he jumped the gun in assuming the worst of everyone's unusual behaviour, they must have just been a little nervous finally having him back.

The more the young Shinigami considered the offer for captaincy, the more it didn't seem like a bad idea. Even if he'd be buried in paperwork he thought he'd like to take the job once he'd died, there was Renji, Tōshirō, Kensei, Shinji, Rukia and his other friends to count on. Ichigo wasn't quite sure he could rely on Rangiku if she were to be his lieutenant, the woman seemed to like shirking her duties more than she liked the drink, and anyone who knew her know just how profound a statement that was.

All of Ichigo's human friends seemed supportive, and also said he should have gone for it once he'd told them all, even the Quincy, much to his surprise.

* * *

"_**You are a fool, Ichigo Kurosaki," Uryū said while pushing his spectacles up the bridge of his nose.**_

"_**Did you and Byakuya rehearse your lines together? Because he said the same thing to me earlier, word for word. And since when do you even care about Soul Reapers?"**_

"_**I don't, but just because I'm a Quincy doesn't mean I don't care about my friends. You're not even-"**_

_**Ichigo cut him off before he could spit out the rest of that sentence, having long since tired of it, "Yeah yeah, I'm still only human, such a great honour, blah blah blah. I'm not going through this again. I said no, that's the end of it."**_

_**The raven haired teen look put off by the interruption, and just how abrasive it had been. Just when he was about to open his mouth to retort, Ichigo flash stepped away, not even waiting to hear it. If getting berated by half the Seireitei the previous day didn't change his mind it was unlikely that one more vain attempt was going to make any sort of difference.**_

* * *

The more Ichigo reflected as he lie on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, the more he realized he may have jumped the gun on that one too. It was true that the duties that came with the position would interfere with a normal human life, but there was no reason he couldn't have tried to strike a deal, as a part-time captain, or at least been on a trial basis to lend a hand. Hell, he thought they'd invented the position of Substitute Soul Reaper just for him up until a few weeks ago, there was no reason they couldn't bend the rules some more for his sake.

Just as the teen stood up, popped out of his body and prepared to head to the Soul Society, he saw a black blur out of the corner of his eye. Instinctively, Ichigo's right hand shot up to grab Zangetsu but was twisted behind his back by another dark figure, who also removed the zanpakutō and discarded it. He attempted to lash out with his left arm but it too was quickly restrained and a cloth sack thrown over his head and secured around his neck with an uncomfortable firmness.

An indeterminate amount of time had passed since the ambush, and Ichigo wasn't even sure what dimension he was in any more. It was dark, but the cloth sack was gone and he was now tied securely to a chair. He looked up to see a black clad figure, Ichigo almost chuckled at the man, at least what he thought was a man, when he saw his attire, but all humour was quickly extinguished when he noticed there were two others dressed the same, all three standing with drawn swords.

"What are you guys supposed to be, ninja wannabes?" He said dryly, reiatsu flaring brightly and rolling off his person in light blue waves as he struggled against the restraints.

Before anyone could make another sound there was a small flash of reflected sunlight on the far end of the room followed by a woman's voice.

"Growl, Haineko!"

Almost immediately after the words had been spoke the trio been surrounded in a cloud of ash that whirled around them like a tornado, gradually contracting to force them closer together. When the captors were back to back the ash returned to the shape of a sword as the woman called out again.

"Bakudō number 63, Sajō Sabaku."

An instant later the three dark figures were tightly bound together with a brightly glowing golden-yellow chain made of reishi as the ash once again took flight and severed Ichigo's restraints.

"What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked, rubbing his wrists in vain attempt to alleviate the marks.

Matsumoto replied with a smug smile on her face, "Now now, is that any way to thank your rescuer? Honestly, Ichigo. You beat Aizen single handedly and you let a few Stealth Force goons get the better of you?"

"Hey, they surprised me, that doesn't count!" The teen complained, face turning red.

Rangiku just giggled at his response.

"Wait, Stealth Force? Is Suì-Fēng still trying to kill me over some perverse sense of vindication?"

"Doubt it, it's likely these three are just some low-level peons who took special offence to you turning down the Head Captain's offer. I'll give them to their Captain, I'm sure she'd love to know that her men do as they please," The lieutenant's smile was now one of mischief. The men bound up by the Kidō spell on the other hand looked absolutely terrified, even from behind their masks. Ichigo swore one of them wet their pants at the notion.

The blond woman spoke again, this time in a strained voice, "Here, I'm sure you'd like this back." She hefted a large black sword wrapped in a white cloth with no small degree of difficulty.

"Thanks," Ichigo began, "But you still never answered my question. Why are you here?"

"I came to get you."

"You're not going to tie me up and put a bag over my head again are you?"

Matsumoto let out another giggle, "No, just to talk."

Ichigo made a face, he was sure he could guess what she wanted to discuss. They'd been sending his friends to hound him about it in hopes he would change his mind almost daily since he'd left. "Funny, I was on my way to the Soul Society to talk with Gramps about that."

"So you've reconsidered?" The woman's face lit up.

"Kind of, I still don't want the job in all it's glory. But that doesn't mean I couldn't do something to help out. I figure I should start giving back, since I've basically just done my own thing since I became a Soul Reaper. And now I owe you one for saving my ass."

It was Rangiku's turn to make a face this time, "I don't think that's going to fly. There really isn't any grey area. You either take the offer or you don't." Her expression quickly morphed into a gentle smile, "You really have matured since we last met."

Ichigo blushed slightly at the compliment and the warm smile, he cleared his throat and looked away in an attempt to hide it, "Well then if that's the case, my answer is still the same." On that note, he turned to leave only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"I really want you to reconsider. You would be better served as an official member of the Gotei Thirteen, and if you're worried about stirring up trouble by suddenly disappearing we could always use memory modifier." The blond woman in the room spoke softly, almost reassuringly.

"I don't want to vanish off the face of the Earth."

"We would leave your friends alone, most of them already know about you moonlighting as a Shinigami, so we know they can keep a secret."

"But my sisters-" Ichigo tried relentlessly to worm his way out, but the lieutenant was nothing if not persistent.

"You give them too little credit," She paused for a moment, avoiding Ichigo's eyes, "They're a lot more capable than you think."

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow, wondering just what she meant, but his mind quickly abandoned those those thoughts when the woman before him looked positively downcast. If she were working him over, she was doing a damned fine job of it. Unfortunately whether or not the lieutenant was sincere was irrelevant, if Ichigo turned her down now he was certain he'd feel bad about it later, although he wasn't quite sure why.

"But-" He tried one more time, and the woman pouted more fiercely. Ichigo simply sighed explosively.

"Remember what the Head Captain said? It's not like you're never going to be allowed in the World of the Living again, in fact you're probably going to get more privileges than any of the other captains, lieutenants or other seated officers." That was it, she'd given him the final push.

Ichigo scrunched his face in reluctance for nearly thirty seconds before he spoke, pre-pending his speech with a sigh, "Fine, you win. I give up. I'll take the damn job if it will make you happy."

Matsumoto lightly jumped up and down, clapping her hands together in mock excitement, or perhaps it was genuine, Ichigo couldn't tell. He just rubbed his temples while tightly closing his eyes for a few seconds before he turned a stern gaze to the three still bound up by a reishi chain, they looked nervous again. Hey strode over and hoisted the kidnappers turned kidnapees on his left shoulder with one arm.

"Let's go." He said begrudgingly, pulling Zangetsu off his back and seemingly sticking it into thin air, twisting the sword like a key, opening a bright gateway.

Matsumoto looked amazed for a moment, "When did you learn how to open a Senkaimon?"

"Dunno, I've just always wanted to try that since I saw Renji do it the first time I met him. I didn't actually expect that to even work."

The blond woman simply laughed at her new Captain as she stepped into the gate, Ichigo frowned and followed as the two disappeared into the light, the doors closing behind them.

* * *

Ichigo stood in a room full of surprised faces, even Yamamoto looked mildly surprised on his usually expressionless face.

"Come again, Kurosaki?" Byakuya spoke up.

Ichigo spoke through gritted teeth, "I said, I'll accept the offer for captaincy."

"I did not expect you to change your mind so quickly, Ichigo Kurosaki." Yamamoto said while stroking his long white beard.

"Yeah well, I guess thirtieth time's the charm, huh? Rangiku pretty much strong armed me until I caved."

The woman in question turned red when all gazes turned to her before the captains and lieutenants at the meeting focused back on the man of the hour.

"But I have conditions, I want to be allowed to visit Karakura whenever I please. Orihime, Chad, Uryū, Tatsuki, Keigo and my sister Karin are to be allowed to come and go from the Seireitei as they please as well, and should be assigned escorts from Squad Ten."

Yamamoto pondered briefly before agreeing to the terms, "Very well, we will give you one week's time to sort your affairs in the Human World before officially bestowing you the rank of Captain of the Tenth Division. Dismissed."

Everyone filed out of the room giving Ichigo a look as they did so, Renji looked like he'd just lost a million dollar bet, Byakuya looked put off by what he thought we Ichigo's unreasonable demands, Suì-Fēng wouldn't even give him the time of day, Shinji and Kensei clapped him on the back in congratulations and Kenpachi just grinned like a madman, although he did so more fiercely than Ichigo had ever seen before. Perhaps it would have been wise to reconsider more thoroughly before agreeing to hang around Kenpachi for the next few hundred years.

Ichigo was the last to leave the room in the First Division barracks where the meetings were always held, Matsumoto in tow. He did so only to step into a courtyard filled with hundreds of Soul Reapers, most unseated members of the various squads, but among them some familiar faces popped up, Yumichika, Ikakku, Hanataro, he even swore he could see Ganju in there somewhere. The moment the new captain-to-be stepped into the courtyard it fell so silent a pin drop could be heard from a mile away before erupting into a deafening din of cheers and jeers alike. Ichigo was only mildly surprised, he was considered the Hero of the Soul Society, much to his chagrin, so he half expected some kind of publicity but nothing like this grand display.

Ichigo was nudged in the ribs lightly by a woman's elbow, "Maybe you should say a few words," Matsumoto paused for a moment before finishing with a warm smile, "Captain."

Ichigo's heart skipped a beat, more because of her smile than what he'd just been called. He pushed the question of why aside in favour of chalking it up to jitters.

"Don't call me that, it's not official yet."

"It's official enough for me," The blond woman said, snaking her arm through his in an uncharacteristically lady-like fashion.

Ichigo could feel his cheeks heat up, then he cleared his throat and prepared to speak, as he did so everyone stopped making noise, and it was dead silent again.

"Uhh, I just want to say what an honour this is, and I'll do my best to live up to your expectations of me."

Silence.

"Oh who am I kidding, my name is Ichigo Kurosaki, Substitute Soul Reaper and I'm going to do things my way! If anyone has a problem with that you can tell it to Zangetsu!" He shouted, while sticking the tip of his sword into the ground directly in front of him in an extravagant manner to make sure it didn't go unnoticed by a single person.

A moment of silence passed, only this time it was punctuated with an even louder commotion than before, comprised of cheers and laughter this time. Even his new lieutenant had to chuckle at the grandiose assertion. Ichigo pumped a fist into the air and shouted, all in attendance followed his lead in unison.

Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad in the Soul Society, after all it was more like moving away from home, to a different dimension granted, but he was still allowed to visit home and his friends allowed to visit his new home.

_'Yeah, I think I like it here.'_


	3. Making History

**A/N:** Whew, finally got a new chapter done. I'm sorry for taking like two weeks to update but I've had a lot on my plate recently and barely any time to myself, as well as a pretty bad case of writer's block. But I'm happy to announce that I both found the time to write and have gotten over my creativity slump. So as always R&R and I hope you enjoy!

Also, I was persuaded by a friend of mine to set up a Twitter, the link is on my profile, follow if you're interested. I'll be posting a new tweet whenever new chapters or new fics entirely go up, or who knows, probably even ask for some suggestions and let my fans help write some of the material (yeah okay, that was just my ego rearing it's ugly head there, but seriously hit me up if you feel so inclined).

* * *

Ichigo stood in front of the door to his house back in the world of living, giving the wood grain a death stare for what must have been nearly ten minutes before being jolted back to reality by a light shove to his back by his companion. He sighed then took in a deep breath before reaching for the door knob, only to stop short a few inches which managed to evoke an exasperated sigh from the blond woman behind him.

"The sooner you go in the sooner this will be over with, Ichigo."

"I'm starting to think this was a bad idea. How am I supposed to explain this? Dad would understand, but then he's not even human. Karin already knows I'm a Shinigami, but I don't think she'll take this well. Last time I disappeared to go train with the Vizards she nearly bit my head off. Not to mention Yuzu can barely see the blurry outline of ghosts."

Rangiku made a face at his whining, "I'm sure you're giving them too little credit," She paused, and avoided making eye contact before speaking almost inaudibly, "In fact, they'll understand better than you think."

Ichigo turned to look at his companion, who still refused to make eye contact. What did she mean by that? He wondered. The soon to be captain just sighed explosively and forced his hand to the metal knob and give it a twist and shove before he could change his mind.

"There you are, Onii-chan!" A voice chirped almost immediately after he stepped through the door.

"Hey," Was all Ichigo managed, not really paying attention to who was addressing him or what they were saying. Then it clicked, he still hadn't been able to get back into his body since being ambushed by the jerks from the Stealth Force, and Yuzu was looking right at him, not only able to see him plain as day but also clearly unperturbed by the massive sword on his back and the abnormal attire. Ichigo whipped around to look at Matsumoto who simply glared back with an expression that was of pure indifference and uninterest. The teen narrowed his eyes at the woman closely inspecting her features, the only thing that met his vision was an unwavering poker face. After a few seconds he turned back to his sister, who was wearing an apron and currently in the process of preparing dinner.

"Where's Karin and Dad?" He asked.

"Here," A voice called, the trio by the door turned to see the voice had come from a young girl with black hair, currently descending the stairs. Then she spoke again, "I don't know where Da-" Ichigo instantly tuned out the older of the twins when he was broadsided by a flying kick to the ribs with enough force to in turn send him flying right into his future lieutenant, knocking them both to the ground.

The teen was on all fours right above the blond haired woman, who was laying flat on her back as a result of the ambush that wasn't even aimed at her. Neither of them made an attempt to move, instead they just maintained eye contact, that was at most only slightly awkward. This scene went on for a few seconds before they were both jolted back to reality by someone clearing their throat. Ichigo immediately stood up, feeling his cheeks heating up. He extended a hand to help up the unfortunate bystander, which she gladly accepted, and before she was barely back on her own two feet Ichigo whipped around and brought a fist up directly into the eldest Kurosaki's gut causing him to double over in pain, clutching the site of the impact and grunt in pain on the way down to the floor.

Karin just shook her head at the scene while Yuzu scrambled to make sure their older brother hadn't inadvertently killed their father, but her worries were misplaced as the man in question sprung to his feet as though nothing had ever happened.

"Excellent power behind that punch, my son!" He bellowed, and then turned his gaze to Rangiku, "And who's this? Have you brought your girlfriend home to meet your old man?" He paused for a moment, rubbing his chin in thought before slamming his fist into the palm of his hand in realization, "I know! You're going to announce your engagement! Oh I'm so proud!"

Ichigo flash stepped behind the prattling fool and attempted to put him in a headlock, only to have his advances easily dodged. The teen was about to have another go when the woman accused of being his lover stepped in between them, keeping the two men at arm's length.

"Remember why we're here, Ichigo." She said.

"Yeah, right. Sorry," He said, then looked around to everyone present and spoke again, "Yuzu, why don't you make us some tea? I have something to tell you all."

* * *

It had been a few hours since Ichigo had dropped a proverbial bombshell on his family, and much to his surprise they took it rather well. Isshin understood as expected, even if he wasn't on board with the whole thing. Karin initially rebuked his words as though they were the plague but came around eventually. And Yuzu, most unexpectedly of all seemed to only take a little explanation before she gave her support, although was quick to admit she would rather her brother stayed instead of going off to live in another dimension of all places.

Once they had left the house, Ichigo sighed explosively before turning to his companion to speak, "That was almost too easy, I'm not sure they really understand just how big this is except for Dad."

"I told you, you give your sisters too little credit. It sounded like they understood perfectly after we explained it fully."

Ichigo pondered her words, and at length responded, "Yeah, I guess. I guess I was just expecting the worst."

Matsumoto gave the teen a reassuring smile, "Don't be so negative, Captain."

"I told you not to call me that earlier, it's not-"

"And I told you-"

Ichigo re-payed the favor of being cur-off mid-sentence and spoke with a slightly irritable undertone, "Yeah yeah, it's _'official enough for you'."_

Rangiku just puffed her cheeks out at the response.

Ichigo sighed again before changing the subject, "Well I still need to go tell everyone else, you wanna come or what?"

His companion nodded in response, "If we're going to be hanging around each other for a few centuries it would probably be a good idea to introduce myself."

Without missing a beat Ichigo set off at a brisk pace, leaving Rangiku behind a few steps before she reacted and quickly hurried up to her partner's side, putting her arm through his once again as they walked down the street. Ichigo was going to tell her to cut it out for fear of being seen before he remembered that they weren't wearing gigais, so the risk of actually being spotted by any one of the handful of people walking about was slim to none. And although he wouldn't admit it, he actually kind of liked the feeling.

* * *

Ichigo and Rangiku made the rounds, visiting his friends to tell them the news, everyone gave their support, Tatsuki was quite vocal about it at first but settled down eventually. Chad just gave a grunt and a nod of approval. Uryū on the other hand wouldn't have it.

"Why are you against this _now_? Just a few weeks ago you yelled at me for turning the offer down." Ichigo questioned.

The Quincy adjusted his spectacles in a nonchalant manner as was his norm, "Because I never expected you to actually change your mind. I was just trying to make a point about how selfish you were being."

"That's not what it sounded like at the time."

The raven haired teen didn't respond, invoking a grin from his Shinigami friend.

"I get it, you're just throwing a temper tantrum now because you can't admit you'll miss me."

"That is not-!"

"No it's okay, I get it. I'd miss me too." Ichigo grinned furiously at the teasing, "But y'know I talked Gramps into letting you come and go from the Seireitei whenever you want."

"Ichigo," The Quincy started.

"Yeah?"

"Run." He said while preparing his bow.

Just as the first arrow took flight, a wall of ash came between the Quincy and his Shinigami prey.

Uryū looked momentarily surprised by Rangiku's intervention and put his bow away, then spoke in a calm tone, "I wasn't trying to kill him," He adjusted his glasses once more and addressed Ichigo, "Who is this woman anyway?"

"Oh, I guess I never introduced you two. This is Rangiku Matsumoto, she'll be my lieutenant when I take over Squad Ten."

"I see," Was all Ishida said in response, along with a smirk that nearly escaped Ichigo's attention, "You win Ichigo. Good luck then, I'd say I'd come visit you some time but even if I have permission I'm not sure I'd be too welcome around a bunch of Soul Reapers."

With that the Quincy was off, vanishing with Hirenkyaku.

Ichigo sighed in response, he realized he'd been doing a lot of that today. But then he didn't particularly care, it's not like it was a walk in the park trying to go around explaining his situation, he was just thankful the day was over now. While he'd been arguing with Uryū the sun had gone down and it was starting to get a little chilly, then he realized how tired he was.

"I'm going home." He said, "You're welcome to come too if you want. We can go back to the Soul Society in the morning if you want, I don't really need seven days to take care of anything."

Rangiku nodded silently and followed the fiery haired teen back to his house.

It was a quick walk back to the Kurosaki Clinic, for which Ichigo was thankful. He barged right in the door only muttering vague sounds that were probably intended to be greetings and then farewells to his sisters as he disappeared up the stairs with his companion in tow. Ichigo slipped back into his body, stretching a bit to get used to the feeling again. Then he realized something. What would happen to his body when he went to the Soul Society? He wouldn't technically be dead, but he'd also have no use for it there. Would Ichigo just store it in a closet or something like a piece of luggage to be used only when he visited the world of the living, or would his family hold a mock funeral? Neither thought sounded quite right, but then his reality was always strage.

Rangiku spoke from the doorway, seemingly reading his mind, "You could use a mod soul."

"What?"

"For your body, you could let a mod soul watch over it. You still have to go to school right? I'm sure Urahara wouldn't mid making you one so we don't have to go around using memory modifier on a bunch of people."

Ichigo pondered the idea momentarily, it sounded somewhat off-putting at first but it wouldn't terribly different from the times he traded places with Kon, Ichigo just wouldn't be around to make sure it didn't get into any trouble.

"I don't know..."

The blond haired woman seemingly reading his mind again offered a counter argument, "If you're worried about the mod soul getting into trouble, just remember it's not your reputation that will be ruined. It will only look like you. After all you're going to be a permanent resident of the Seireitei by the end of the week, your friends would all know it's not actually you in the body that's walking around with your face."

Ichigo said nothing as he walked over to the closet and pulled out a spare futon, a pillow, and a blanket throwing them haphazardly onto the floor next to the bed. He let out a large jaw-splitting yawn and got the futon in order before taking off his shirt and throwing somewhere. Rangiku looked at the shirtless figure and noted how toned his muscles were for being just seventeen years old. Ichigo turned around to look at her, letting a few moments pass before snapping his fingers three times in rapid succession to get his lieutenant's attention. Rangiku could feel her cheeks turn pink as she realized she'd been caught gawking.

"I'll worry about mod souls and it's social standing tomorrow. I'm going to sleep." Ichigo finally said while crawling into the futon on the floor.

A few minutes passed and Ichigo looked up from his spot on the floor, to see Rangiku still standing in the doorway.

"Don't be such a stranger. Come in, you can have the bed." He said, gesturing toward it with a jerk of his head.

The blond woman did as she was told and entered the room, shutting the door behind her tentatively.

_'What am I so nervous about?'_ She asked herself.

Rangiku took a deep breath and strode over to the desk, taking Haineko from her obi and setting the sword down gently, she turned to face Ichigo and gave him a little smile before turning out the lights and climbing into her designated sleeping apparatus. She was herself tired as well, but for some reason felt wide awake lying in the pitch-black and silent room. Rangiku continued to toss and turn for about ten minutes.

"Hey, Ichigo," She said softly, almost inaudibly.

"Yeah?" He answered sleepily.

Matsumoto bit her lip, contemplating asking what was on her mind before replying a few moments later, "No, never mind."

* * *

Ichigo awoke to the sun peeking through his curtains, he hadn't slept that good in who knows how long. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before glancing over at the clock, 11:49. He must have been more tired than he even realized, considering it hadn't even been nine o' clock when he'd went to bed the previous night. Then Ichigo noticed something odd, there was a strange heat at his back, almost like there was another person behind him.

Sure enough when Ichigo craned his neck back Rangiku was lying there, curled up and hugging herself to keep as warm as possible since her unwitting sleep partner hogged all the covers. Ichigo briefly considered shaking her violently and calling her name, but he noticed how peaceful Rangiku looked while she was sleeping and decided he didn't have the heart to do it. Instead he opted to just rolling over so they were facing each other, lying on his side and propping his head up on one hand. Ichigo just studied her features while she slept. The expression on her face was soft, serene, innocent. Which was in stark contrast to her usual behaviour, which was often times anything but. This continued for a few more minutes, until Rangiku stirred, possibly sensing someone staring at her.

The blond bed intruder opened one eye, and then closed it a moment later and snuggling with the pillow. Ichigo just raised an eyebrow almost at the same time Rangiku's eyelids flew open in realization that someone else was there.

"Morning." Was all he said.

"What are you doing in my bed, Ichigo?"

The man in question made a face, "That's my line. And technically it's my bed."

For a second Rangiku had no earthly idea what the boy was talking about, until she surveyed her situation a bit more thoroughly and realized it was quite the other way around.

"How did I..." Her voice trailed off.

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

Rangiku sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, then just looked back to Ichigo and shrugged.

"What time is it?" She asked.

"Almost noon, we kinda slept in."

"We should probably get back soon." Matsumoto said, quickly changing gears.

Ichigo was momentarily thrown for a loop before it clicked, "We?"

"You said you didn't need a week to get everything in order. I just figured the sooner we get back to the Soul Society the less time we spend just dawdling around here," Came the reply.

"You seem anxious to get me back into a shihakushō." He practically grunted the last syllable as he was in mid-stretch.

That wasn't exactly true, for Rangiku was preoccupied admiring Ichigo's shirtless form once more, watching as his muscles flexed as he stretched this way and that. To cover that up with clothing seemed almost a waste to her, and a crying shame.

"Here," He said, tossing Haineko back to her rightful master. Ichigo looked at the sword for a few beats after it was snatched out of the air. He would swear he just heard the sword spirit's voice when he'd touched the scabbard, felt her presence within his mind. He made a mental note to ask Zangetsu later, who better to know about the workings of a zanpakutō than a zanpakutoō himself?

After Rangiku was finished securing her sword back in her obi she looked up to see Ichigo looking at it, "Something the matter?"

"No, nothing." He said casually, while throwing on a shirt and walking towards the door.

The two headed downstairs to have breakfast, or more accurately lunch, before saying their final goodbyes for what would likely be a while. Ichigo wasn't so naïve as to think the transition from Substitute to full-blown Captain would be quick and painless. It would probably be at least several months before he could get a break and visit the Human World.

Ichigo and Rangiku finished eating and bid their farewells to the Kurosaki family for the time being, who all seemed to be pretty well composed at the parting. Maybe his lieutenant was right, maybe he did give his sisters too little credit, but even if that were the case he just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more going on that he wasn't privy to no matter how hard he tried. He made another mental note to ask Captain Suì-Fēng to borrow an unseated member of the Stealth Force to keep an eye on things for a few days. It was probably wishful thinking, he'd most likely get laughed out of the room at the request but Ichigo felt it was worth a shot.

Ichigo was jolted out of his introspection by a hand on his shoulder, he turned to see it was Rangiku trying to tell him to shake a leg, as she was already standing half in and half out of a Senkaimon she'd opened without him noticing. Not a moment later the glowing gateway had disappeared as their backs were engulfed by the bright white light.

* * *

Ichigo, Rangiku, Yamamoto and the rest of the captains stood on a makeshift stage overlooking a large courtyard where it seemed like every Shinigami in existence was gathered, there were lieutenants, unseated officers and academy students alike in the crowd. Suddenly Ichigo felt a slight pang of stage fright, he'd faced a comparably sized crowd not forty-eight hours ago and hadn't thought twice about addressing them all, but that had been more of a spur of the moment thing.

Yamamoto cleared his throat and spoke, his voice unnaturally amplified as though he were speaking into a microphone, despite doing no such thing, "I'm sure you all know why you're here today, this is a historical event for the Soul Society, in over two-thousand years never before has one so young been granted the position of Captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads."

The Head Captain paused to allow for the crowd to give a small round of applause before continuing, "It is with great pride, and great honour that I welcome the former Substitute Soul Realer Ichigo Kurosaki into the ranks of the Gotei Thirteen, and strip him of the position of Shinigami-daiko, and promote him to Captain of the Tenth Divison, the youngest in the history of the Soul Society as well as the first human to ever hold the title."

This time a thunderous round of applause errupted from those in attendance, just as Chōjirō Sasakibe stepped forward holding a neatly folded white Captain's haori with a dark green lining and the word _jū_ on the back. Ichigo paused for a moment, then handed off Zangetsu to Rangiku for a moment so he could put on his new status symbol. Ichigo took the article of clothing, unfolded it and threw it on over his shihakushō in a flashy display with little effort. Then there was more cheers as Ichigo took back his zanpakutō and fixed it securely in it's usual resting place on his back.

Ichigo stood at the forefront of all the Captains, giving the rest of the gathered Shinigami a wave as his comrades formed a line to approach him, all giving him a stern handshake and words of congratulations. Kenpachi, Unohana and even Kurotsuchi and Byakuya shook his hand. Then the last in line stepped forward, also a young captain, although slightly older than Ichigo he was a few heads shorter and had white hair.

Tōshirō extended his hand with a smile and spoke, "Congratulations, Ichigo."

Ichigo took his fellow Captain's hand and shook.

"That's Captain Kurosaki to you." He said with a grin, eliciting a deafening roar of laughter from the crowd and captains alike.

* * *

**_Things to note;_**

_jū_ is the pronunciation for the Japanese numeral for ten (10), it looks like the addition symbol (十).  
An obi is the white (they can be any color, they are just white in the standard Shinigami's garb, or black in the case of Arrancar) sash secured at the waist that holds up the hakama (the pants), and also often holds the scabbard for the Shinigami's zanpakutō


	4. Revelations

**A/N:** Well, I wasn't quite expecting to get another chapter out so soon. I sat down to watch a bit of Monster and realized I had a serious urge to put virtual pen to virtual paper. So here we are, chapter 4. Things are starting to heat up, hope you enjoy, and as always R&R!

_**All bold and italic text is a flashback.**_

* * *

Ichigo sat in his new office, living the dream, or more accurately, the nightmare, for he sat behind a desk in his new office in the Squad Ten HQ buried almost entirely by stacks and stacks of paperwork.

"I'm beginning to think I bit off more than I could chew," He groaned.

Rangiku sat back on the couch, kicking her feet up on the coffee table with a bottle of sake in hand.

"Since when has that ever stopped you? It's only been four days, you're making a mountain out of a mole hill," She said, voice slightly slurred by this point.

Then a voice chirped from behind Ichigo and inserted itself into the conversation, "Lieutenant Matsumoto is right, Ichigo-sama. You just need to give it a few days."

"Knock it off with the _sama_ nonsense, Boichiro, or I'm sending you back to Hat and Clogs as a little green pill."

It had been like this since the morning of the second day, Ichigo had taken Rangiku's suggestion and acquired a mod soul from Urahara, only he'd decided to bring his body back to the Soul Society as a personal assistant. Something that unfortunately proved to be a fruitless endevour, the mod soul wasn't particularly intelligent or quick-witted. In fact it's only modifications seemed to be vehemently opposing any pessimism with an almost sickening degree of his own optimism. Ichigo was certain he was being pranked by the shop owner.

"Aw c'mon, Captain_-sama_. Don't be such a sourpuss. _Hic!_ Besides the little guy is kinda cute, unlike some Shinigami I know," The blond woman walked up to the mod soul and pinched his cheek rather roughly.

"We look exactly the same!" Ichigo fumed, "Wait, Captain-sama? You're drunk."

Rangiku giggled at the accusation, "There's no law against it."

"No but it's barely nine o' clock in the morning, don't you think you've been overdoing it just a little bit lately?"

"No."

Ichigo sighed, wondering why he even bothered asking in the first place, "Go get some rest, you can have the day off. Not that you really needed permission in the first place, you seem to have taken to it on your own. Boichiro, take Rangiku to my quarters. And confiscate all the alcohol in the building."

"Wow Ichi-_chan_, you sounded really professional just now. Almost like you're a Captain or something!"

Boichiro quickly ushered the woman out of the room before either of them could suffer the fallout for that one, Ichigo had fully intended to start yelling but settled for rubbing his temples in frustration when he noticed they were gone.

"She was always difficult, but not quite like that," A voice said from the doorway.

"Tōshirō, what are you doing here?"

The white haired Captain didn't bat an eye at being called by his first name for once, perhaps he simply got tired of correcting people and didn't care anymore, or the little remark at Ichigo's ceremony last week humbled him somewhat. Ichigo just assumed it was because they were equals now and didn't mind being addressed informally anymore.

"I came to see how you were adjusting. Nothing like you thought it would be, is it?"

Ichigo slumped in his chair and sighed, he'd been doing a lot of that every day since he'd made the announcement he'd accept the position, "No, that's the problem. It's _exactly_ what I thought it would be."

"The paperwork side of things is always exaggerated, you're just swamped because of the transition. I imagine Rangiku let it pile up after I put in my transfer to the Fifth Division."

"I guess," Ichigo replied, "Hey, do you think she's acting weird lately? It seems like she's drinking more, unless that started while I was out of commission for almost two years."

The young Shinigami stepped into the office fully and took up a seat on the couch, "No, it was quite the opposite. After you defeated Aizen and lost your powers she quit cold turkey. Which was especially strange because she seemed more depressed than ever. Her behaviour is just as much a mystery to me as it is to you."

Ichigo looked thoughtful at the response, he thought of all people Tōshirō would have the answers. The two had been a pair long before Ichigo entered the picture.

"Well I should head back, I told Momo I wouldn't be gone long."

"Yeah, sure," Was all Ichigo could manage as his mind spun, looking for clues to the current situation.

* * *

The rest of the day passed with a gruelling slowness Ichigo wasn't even aware was possible. But he'd managed to get caught up on the paperwork by furiously powering through it all without so much as a break since Hitsugaya's visit, which was a feat in and of itself, given the fact that it was almost midnight. Ichigo stood and stretched, noting how incredibly sore he was. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to pace himself with the work a little better next time. After all, he'd be at this for several more decades at the very least. But then there was always more work to be done sooner or later.

He decided to just head straight to bed, ignoring his stomach, which was making quite the fuss in protest for having not been supplied with an ounce of food in over twelve hours. Just as Ichigo entered his private quarters he heard a sound from the other side of the shōji that sounded somewhat like someone trying to suppress a sob. Sure enough when he slid the door back, Rangiku was sitting there, legs hanging over the deck facing toward the private yard, her back to Ichigo, shoulders trembling slightly.

Ichigo pondered calling her name, going to see what was wrong, and after a few beats lifted a foot to take a step forward but decided to let her have her space. After all, if she was in his room behind two closed doors there was a high probability she just wanted to be left alone. So without making a sound he slid the shōji closed and turned around. Ichigo hadn't managed to take more than seven steps when the door abruptly flew open again and he felt someone pressed against his back and their arms around his waist.

"Rangiku?" He questioned. The arms around his waist simply tightened in response. Ichigo went to gingerly place his right hand on top of hers, only to have her pull her left hand back the second he touched her skin. Before he could pull his hand back, Rangiku grabbed it, intertwining their fingers.

"I'm sorry," Was all she said through another sob, burying her face in his back.

Ichigo wasn't quite sure what was going on, had he lost it as a consequence for immersing himself in busywork for the last half of a day? It certainly felt real enough. When Ichigo got hit thoughts in order he spoke in a soft voice, "Sorry for what?"

"Your s..." Rangiku choked out, Ichigo didn't quite catch the whole thing.

"What?"

"Your sisters," She repeated, this time somewhat more forcefully.

Immediately upon hearing this Ichigo pulled out of her embrace and turned to face her.

"What about them?" He asked almost frantically.

The blond woman took a moment to wipe away her tears before speaking again, "Do you remember what the Head Captain said when you refused the offer the first time?"

Ichigo's mind spun for a moment, trying to recall. It had only been just shy of three weeks but for some reason the recollection, until it hit him. _'Your decision is regrettable'_ the words rang out in his head clear as day. It hadn't made much sense at the time, but now he was beginning to think that his initial worries may not have been misplaced after all. Suddenly it all made sense, everyone's strange behaviour, why Ichigo accepting the offer after only two weeks of reconsideration thoroughly shocked and surprised the old man more than it should have, and possibly why Yuzu could see him and didn't seem the slightest bit unsettled by his Shinigami outfit and zanpakutō.

"What did he do to them?!" Ichigo had taken to shouting by this point.

"They're Shinigami," Rangiku paused for a moment, dropping to her knees and hugging herself, unable to hold back the sobs any more, and then spoke again, "They're just like you were..."

Ichigo could feel the colour leave his face, he felt oddly cold, "You don't mean..."

The woman before him just nodded.

Ichigo wouldn't have it, it was only slight comfort that Karin and Yuzu weren't badly injured or dead, but if they were on the same page their current fate would be infinitely worse in his mind.

"NO! No, no no, no, no!"

"I saw their masks, Ichigo!" Rangiku practically screamed the words.

Upon hearing confirmation of his worst fears Ichigo shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing Zangetsu and unleashing a Getsuga Tenshō in a fit of rage, the blast of spirit energy demolished the wall facing the private yard, tore up the ground for several tens of metres and badly damaged the far wall. Rangiku sprung to her feet, clutched his kosode in the front, grabbing two fistfuls and burying her head in his chest. Crying uncontrollably. She just kept whispering _'I'm sorry'_ over and over. Ichigo pushed her away almost immediately.

"YOU DID THIS!" He roared, "That's what you were doing in the world of the living when I came back here for the first time after regaining my powers! And Urahara helped you turn my sisters into hollows!"

"Ichi-"

Ichigo instantly cut her off, he was certainly in no mood for excuses or flimsy justifications, "GET OUT!"

The blond lieutenant recoiled at the sheer volume of his voice, anyone who would look at the man could tell he was quite upset, but she could feel his reiatsu, it felt violent, and crushing. He was _furious_, more angry than she thought possible. She'd tried to warn Yamamoto this was a terrible idea, and she had a bad feeling the entire Seireitei was about to pay for his mistake.

* * *

_**Just as the final person left the room and the large double doors closed, the only people that were left were Rangiku and Suì-Fēng, just as ordered.**_

"_**Captain," The elderly Shinigami spoke, "I would like you to travel to the World of the Living, inform Urahara that he is to prepare for two guests, and that he is to put them through the same process that Kurosaki underwent two years ago, prior to his invasion of the Soul Society to rescue Rukia Kuchiki. Take two of your best men to capture the subjects by force if they aren't willing to cooperate."**_

_**Suì-Fēng just nodded her agreement.**_

"_**What process is that, Head Captain, sir?" Rangiku asked.**_

"_**The process will turn them into Shinigami, Urahara will explain the details when you arrive, I want you to accompany Captain Suì-Fēng and try to convince the subjects first."**_

"_**Who are we after?" She questioned.**_

_**Yamamoto studied the Lieutenant momentarily before replying, "The Kurosaki twins."**_

_**Her eyes widened at the response.**_

"_**Why them? You're not going to make one of them take over as my Captain since Ichigo refused are you?"**_

"_**No, Kurosaki is concerned his sisters cannot look after themselves, if they have the power to slay hollows then there would be nothing to worry about."**_

_**For someone who was over two millennia old that was an awfully naïve statement. He couldn't seriously think Ichigo would take that lying down and instantly accept the offer, could he?**_

"_**I don't think that's a very good idea. Ichigo is extremely protective of those two, he'd likely be out for blood if we got anywhere near them without him knowing about it. Kidnapping his sisters and turning them into Soul Reapers whether they agree to it or not isn't going to make him change his mind. We could very well make a powerful enemy. Ichigo fought against and defeated several captains and lieutenants during his first invasion, and he's only gotten stronger since. I don't think anyone could stop him if he decided to take out his anger on the Seireitei."**_

"_**Don't be ridiculous, Matsumoto. Kurosaki is just a substitute," Suì-Fēng scoffed.**_

"_**Did you forget he almost single-handedly defeated Aizen? He's stronger than all of us whether you want to admit it or not," The lieutenant snapped back.**_

"_**It is regrettable that this must be done, Lieutenant. But I see no other way. I thought you of all people would be eagar to see the young boy take over your division."**_

_**Rangiku simple went red in the face at the insinuation, "I don't want to force him to join by destroying his life! It has to be his decision!"**_

"_**Enough," The Head Captain said in a stern, authoritative tone, "You have your orders, dismissed."**_

* * *

Rangiku took a tentative step forward, "Ichigo..." She said softly.

"I SAID GET OUT!" He bellowed in response, shoving her rather violently.

The lieutenant stood her ground, she was afraid of what he might do, but then again she was possibly the only thing that was stopping the Seireitei from being reduced to rubble at the moment.

"No!"

Ichigo reeled back, pulling his right arm back as far as he could and let it fly before he even realized what he was doing. Just then it all seemed to move in slow motion, he looked to his hand, then to Rangiku, who was right in the way, he couldn't believe himself. Was he really going to hit this woman over something that she probably had no say in?

_'No, stop!'_ He shouted to himself in his mind, but his muscles couldn't react to his will fast enough, and the unmistakeable sound a slap rang out as Ichigo backhanded his lieutenant right in the face causing Rangiku's head to jerk rather suddenly to the left, then the room feel deathly silent and neither of them even dare to twitch a muscle for what seemed like an eternity.

"I..." He began, as she looked back to him, cheek red from the hit and tears still in her eyes. She wore an expression that was a mix of shock and sadness, and hurt. Ichigo took a small step forward as if testing the waters, he noted that Rangiku tensed up at his advance but made no effort to shy away. A moment later he lunged forward, pulling her into an embrace suddenly.

"I'm sorry," He cooed softly into her ear, all traces of his rage suddenly vanishing. Ichigo had no room for anger any more, he was just disgusted with himself. Matsumoto reached up, and gingerly put her arms around his back for a few moments before moving them to his hips and pushing away lightly to get him to loosen his grip. Ichigo thought she was trying to get away from him, and quite honestly, he didn't blame her. But the woman made no attempt to do any such thing, she instead looked him right in the eye and wore and expression he didn't recognize.

Ichigo attempted to speak but was abruptly cut off when his lieutenant threw her arms around his neck and pulled his head down slightly, and kissed him. The young captain didn't quite know what was going on any more, had he knocked her senseless? It didn't feel like he'd hit her quite that hard, then again he hadn't planned on doing that in the first place so it was anyone's guess how much force he actually put into it. Perhaps he was stronger than he knew. The kiss was completely one-sided, and as Rangiku tried to put more passion into it, she was interrupted by a hand on each shoulder, putting some distance in between the duo.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked.

"I just wanted-"

"You don't know what you want."

"Excuse me?" Rangiku questioned rhetorically, that was quite a back-handed thing to say. Who was he to dictate what she did or didn't want to do?

Ichigo looked downcast, and almost miserable, "Do you feel sorry for me? Do you think that trying to butter me up is going to make what happened go away, make me forgive you, forgive Yamamoto?"

The blond woman hadn't expected that, then she realized she wasn't sure what she was even trying to accomplish. Emotions and adrenaline were running high, and she just got caught up in the moment. She was sure she knew what she wanted, however. During the time Ichigo was in the Human World, without powers and without the ability to see spiritual beings, she had realized she missed the young human. At first she couldn't figure out why, in fact up until a few seconds ago she still wasn't sure. But now she knew, she had feelings for the fiery haired teen. Truth be told that revelation shocked them both equally, but she didn't quite care about that right now.

Without saying another word she leaned in again to meet his lips with hers, this time Ichigo returned it slightly, with a great deal of uncertainty. What was he doing? He hadn't had much experience with women, in fact he'd only had one girlfriend in the past year and a half, and that barely lasted four months before she'd broke it off. He concluded he was completely inept when it came to relationships. But one thing he knew for certain; this wasn't right. They shouldn't be doing this. This was heat of the moment. There was nothing wrong with spontaneity, but neither of them were thinking clearly, or in the right frame of mind right now.

He was about to protest again, when he felt his kosode being pushed off his shoulders as he was forcibly backed up to the bed.

_'Stop her, you're both going to regret this if you let her continue.'_ A voice shouted at Ichigo in the back of his mind, he wanted to listen to it, but he couldn't. No matter how much his better judgement protested his body wouldn't listen. He'd allowed himself to be pushed onto the bed, now shirtless, with a woman on top of him, caressing his torso and furiously planting kisses all over his neck, face and lips, which he returned with equal passion and lust. Ichigo decided it was pointless to try and fight it, so he did just the opposite and took control. In one fell swoop he'd grabbed Rangiku by the waist and flipped her on her back, reversing their positions. Now he was the one to caress her body, the one to plant kisses all over her. They could both feel the lust burning inside them, until it reached it's boiling point and they completely lost themselves in the moment, minds going blank. There was no going back now.

* * *

_**Things to note;**_

A shōji is a sliding door with paper (or a type of plastic in more modern iterations) sandwiched in between a wooden frame (most commonly bamboo).  
A kosode is a type of robe for both men and women, it's the black "shirt" part of the standard Shinigami's shakushō.


	5. Anger Management

_**A/N:**_ Bam! New chapter, the drama is starting to heat up now, hopefully I did a good job with it. As always R&R and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Ichigo awoke to the sun rudely shining on his face, and for the first time in a while he awoke feeling well rested, he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept that good despite having one hell of a dream during the night. Or at least he thought it was a dream, that is until he realized his only article of clothing still on his person was a pair of boxers, his shihakushō and haori strewn haphazardly around the room. In stark contrast, Zangetsu was perched on a wooden mounting his master had commissioned several days prior.

Ichigo reflected on the previous day while getting himself back in order. His sisters? Shinigami? No, not Shinigami. They were technically Visored now, a consequence of forcing encroachment. And for what, to force one person's hand? Certainly there must have been at least one prodigious student at Shin'ō Academy, _someone_ that at least came close to Ichigo's meteoric rise to stardom among the denizens of the Seireitei and his immense power. Hell he'd only been a Soul Reaper on and off for less than three years and seventeen months of that was spent being a useless human. No. _'This isn't about me,'_ he told himself. The more he thought about what Yamamoto had done to his sister's the angrier he got. Just as he'd finished dressing and secured Zangetsu on his back, the door slid open to reveal a buxom blond woman carrying a tea tray. Ichigo turned to look at his lieutenant and when their gazes meet she noted that pure, unadulterated rage and violent intent was all that swam in his brown eyes, and his reiatsu, it felt more angry and malicious than it had the night before. She was terrified. The young captain flinched ever so slightly, and Rangiku took this as a cue to ready Haineko, but just as her hand grasped the hilt Ichigo flash stepped and instantly appeared behind the woman before she could draw the blade, and before she knew what happened she felt an impact on the back of her neck, her vision doubled, then lost focus before going black all together and she lost consciousness, falling to the tatami mats the same time the tea tray did, shattering the pot and cups.

"I'll be back for you later," Ichigo whispered before jumping out the still gaping hole in the wall, or rather where a wall used to be, and vanishing in a flash.

A few minutes later Ichigo was at the First Division headquarters, moving as quickly as his legs could carry him while still passing for a walk, breaking into a light jog every few steps. He got some strange looks from other squad members but ultimately no one said anything to him, although that was likely due to the fact that one look in the Captain's eyes would tell them if they wanted to keep breathing it would be best to act like he wasn't even there. Ichigo finally arrived at a large pair of wooden doors where Chōjirō Sasakibe stood as if guarding the entrance.

"The Head Captain isn't seeing anyone at the present time, Captain Kurosaki," He said when Ichigo stopped in front of him.

"Get the hell out of my way," Ichigo snapped back with a vicious tone.

Without bothering to reply Sasakibe drew Gonryōmaru and took a defensive stance. Ichigo took that to mean he knew why he was there, and just smirked as he drew his own zanpakutō.

"Getsuga Tenshō!" The orange haired Shinigami shouted, swinging his oversized sword and releasing a crescent shaped blast of spirit energy which sent the ill prepared lieutenant flying backwards through the door and colliding with the far wall.

Yamamoto stood behind his desk, looking clearly unperturbed that someone who fully intended to kill him had just burst through the door.

"Kurosaki, please calm yourself. I take it Matsumoto was unable to keep the secret from you?" He said in a calm tone.

"What were you thinking turning my sisters into hollows?! Were you so desperate to get me under your thumb you risked killing two humans just to get at me?! My own family even!" Ichigo snarled while releasing another Getsuga Tenshō and flash stepping to the elderly Shinigami who had his own zanpakutō drawn in the blink of an eye. Sparks flew as metal collided with metal. Ichigo jumped back after a few seconds of struggling to overpower his opponent just as Sasakibe got back to his feet and prepared to attack.

Yamamoto held up a hand as if to tell his lieutenant to sit this one out and spoke, "Reduce All Creation to Ash, Ryūjin Jakka."

An instant later the blade ignited and engulfed it's wielder in flame.

"Bankai!" Ichigo shouted in response, "Tensa Zangetsu."

Yamamoto flash stepped out of the office to a more secluded place so as to not destroy half the Seireitei with what he viewed as a petty squabble. Ichigo was momentarily thrown for a loop by this but quickly gave pursuit. Being the oldest Captain of the Gotei Thirteen, Yamamoto's mastery of Shunpō was exceptional, arguably the fastest there was, but Ichigo had little trouble staying right on his tail in his bankai, the two even exchanged glancing blows. Some bystanders even caught glimpses here or there of the blurry high-speed skirmish, hearing the metallic clangs of sword on sword hits.

The two came to a stop just over a large courtyard, standing several hundred feet in the air. Yamamoto swung his sword without missing a beat as a large wall of flame began to form behind Ichigo, realizing what he was about to caught in Ichigo flash stepped and came at the elderly Shinigami from the left, but was easily blocked and thrown back several metres, skidding to a stop.

"I will give you one last chance, _Captain_ Kurosaki, lay down your sword and I will allow you to live and keep your position," Yamamoto said, putting emphasis on Ichigo's position in hopes that remembering his responsibility would snap him out of his violent rampage. Although unfortunately Ichigo took this as a taunt and shouted in anger as he resorted to his favoured technique, rapidly moving around his opponent attacking from all angles and leaving several after-images to confuse and disorient the target. Most of the attacks were blocked or dodged but several got through, one causing a rather deep wound on the Head Captain's right bicep. Ichigo pushed himself to move even faster, although it wasn't by much as he was already overexerting himself as it was, and collected black reiatsu with a crimson glow around his blade as though he were going to release a Getsuga Tenshō, but instead kept it contained within the sword to give it more power. Ichigo stopped behind Yamamoto and brought Zangetsu down violently only to have his opponent whip around and deliver a powerful punch right to Ichigo's gut, sending him flying.

The black spirit energy discharged, striking the ground only a few feet in front of where Renji just happened to be walking, still a bit irked by the fact that Ichigo had made captain before him. As if the stock of almost being hit with a black Getsuga Tenshō wasn't bad enough Ichigo came down after it moments later, slamming into the ground with a fair deal of force.

"I-Ichigo?" Renji stammered.

The orange haired teen only spared his friend a glance, which delivered all his emotion more effectively than words could ever hope to, before pushing off from the ground with all his strength and flying back up into the air while gathering more black reiatsu around his sword.

Just when Ichigo had vanished Rukia came running from around a corner behind Renji after having been no doubt alerted by the sounds of fighting.

"Renji, what's going on?" She asked.

The red haired Shinigami opened his mouth to speak but couldn't get a word out before he was interrupted by a different female voice, "Ichigo is fighting with the Head Captain, from the looks of it they're both trying to kill each other by this point."

The trio looked up into the sky, and true enough the battle that raged on over the Soul Society was quite the violent one, the two participants weren't pulling any punches. Ryūjin Jakka's intense flames raged toward the younger Captain who seemed to avoid them without much difficulty and countered with a Getsuga Tenshō when he could.

"What?!" Rukia exclaimed, "Your his second in command, why don't you go up there and try to stop him?"

Rangiku looked as though she'd been told something rather unpleasant, and in fact the prospect of getting in Ichigo's way was quite unpleasant, "He _will_ kill me if I get in the way, I won't last thirty seconds."

"Jeez, what did you people do to piss him off so much?" Renji asked while rubbing the back of his neck as though the question were no more common than asking for the time of day.

"We turned his sisters into Shinigami by the same process I put Ichigo through before he came to rescue Rukia," A man's voice answered.

"Urahara, what are you doing here?" The petite Shinigami in question asked.

"I came to see how our friend would take the news. Not very well, it would seem."

"Don't you think he's over reacting just a bit? I mean his sisters are just Soul Reapers, it's not like they were assassinated or anything," Renji said, his nonchalant attitude still present.

"They both have inner hollows now, just like Ichigo did before he defeated Aizen. You saw what Ichigo was like when he went berserk in Hell, Renji. He's furious that we opened the door for the same thing to happen to his own family," Rangiku said softly, resorting to hugging herself again trying to hold back the tears.

Renji's and Rukia's eyes widened at the realization, their mouths hung open in surprise.

"Well no wonder he's so mad! What on Earth were you thinking?" Renji shouted.

Kisuke was quick to justify their actions, "It wasn't our idea, Matsumoto here came to my shop and told me it was the Head Captain's orders that we were to turn them into Soul Reapers, by force if necessary."

Ichigo and Yamamoto were tired and breathing heavily, both bloody with wounds of varying degrees of severity all over their bodies. Both were now shirtless, Ichigo because his kosode has just been shredded from the fighting, Yamamoto because he just simply found it easier to move without clothing restricting the movements of his upper body. Although the elderly Captain had to hand it to his young subordinate, even if he was only using his shikai, few had ever been able to fight on equal terms with him for so long and still have the energy and be in sufficient physical condition to keep up the hostilities.

Ichigo saw an opening as Yamamoto adjusted his stance and lunged forward gathering black reiatsu around Tensa Zangetsu's blade again. Time seemed to stand still, he had a clear line of attack directly to several vital spots that would prove to be crippling, if not fatal, injuries if Ichigo managed to land a successful attack, which he would. Yamamoto seemed to realize this too as he tried his best to defend against the incoming attack to keep himself alive at the very least, even if he couldn't fight anymore after taking the hit. Just as Ichigo hauled off and prepared to strike, he heard a female voice call out to him.

"ICHIGO, STOP!"

Then a different voice.

"ICHIGO!"

The voices seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite put a face or a name to them. They seemed quiet, distant almost. But Ichigo didn't care right now, he was about to win this fight and get his revenge. He'd worry about what anybody else wanted later.

Realizing that Ichigo was either unwilling or unable to stop and was clearly shooting to kill, the first voice flash stepped to get in between the two duelling Shinigami, drawing her own zanpakutō in the process. She arrived in front of the older of the two just in time and deflected Zangetsu with a great deal of difficulty, as Ichigo's arm was forced away the black spirit energy discharged and barely missed it's target by inches.

When Ichigo overcame the initial shock of the intervention he took a moment to see who was crazy enough to get in his way, now of all times. Before him stood a young Shinigami, with dark grey eyes and black hair that was tied back in a short ponytail and cut to about shoulder length and styled to frame either side of her face.

"K-Karin?" He stammered. Just then his rage flared once more and he looked back to Yamamoto who made no attempt to take advantage of the situation and just destroy the both of them where they stood. Ichigo reeled back one more time to attempt to strike over his sister and kill Yamamoto indefinitely this time.

"Onii-chan, stop it!" The second female voice demanded from behind him. And Ichigo did, he stopped dead in his tracks upon hearing these words, for he knew instantly who it was.

Ichigo turned around, lowered Zangetsu and spoke, "Yuzu, what are y-"

The young Captain was cut off by a rather intense pain in his back, for a second he though Yamamoto had decided to just kill both of the Kurosaki siblings in one strike, but when he stumbled for several yards and looked back he saw that wasn't the case. The fact that he was even still alive told him that much, no it was Karin who'd hit him in the lower back with the kashira of her zanpakutō.

"Just what do you think you're doing? Where you really going to kill him? What would that accomplish, Ichigo?" Karin began her lecture.

Ichigo wasn't sure what was going on, had he been killed and not realized it? This certainly didn't seem like reality. But he had to remind himself this was very real. When he finally snapped back to it he was still utterly dumbfounded.

"Karin, Yuzu, you guys are... All right?"

"Yeah, of course we are, why wouldn't we be?" The later of the twins asked in response.

Ichigo just let out a sigh of relief, when he heard that they had inner hollows he'd just assumed the worst, that they'd been overwhelmed and his sisters had been fully hollowfied and been unable to control it. Although that didn't necessarily mean they _could_ control it just because they weren't rampaging around the Human World shooting off Ceros this way and that, it was likely they hadn't been taught how to tame their hollows yet, in fact it seemed likely they hadn't been taught much of anything except Shunpō which the older of the twins seemed to have a knack for just like Ichigo did when he first started out, given the speed she's just achieved a few minutes earlier. Karin's swordsmanship was sloppy, she'd accomplished her goal but if Ichigo had been aiming for her he guessed her zanpakutō would have been knocked clean from her hand. Ichigo just sealed Zangetsu back into his shikai state and placed the large sword on his back as a white cloth seemed to just wrap itself around the blade of it's own accord. Ichigo certainly wasn't going to be forgiving anyone any time soon, but it wouldn't do him much good to keep up the fight any more. Karin and Yuzu were likely to get in the way and try to stop him again, and if that happened he'd probably just end up hurting them instead of his actual target.

"Come on, let's go back to my division's headquarters. We've got some things to talk about," Ichigo said, making a gesture for his sisters to follow as he flash stepped away, keeping it slow since he didn't know the extent of their skills with the ability.

When the trio got back to the Captain's office Ichigo found that his lieutenant was waiting there for them, much to his chargrin.

"Welcome back you two, Captain," Rangiku said while smiling warmly, looking to the twins first and then to Ichigo.

The young captain just brushed past the blond woman, pretending he hadn't heard what she said and not even bothering to look at her, acting like she didn't even exist. The twins however, greeted her as politely as they could manage, although they too held some contempt for the woman, as it was her fault they were even here right now.

Ichigo took a seat at his desk, having been followed there by his second in command, who stood behind him. After several moments of awkward silence and Ichigo drumming his fingers on the wooden surface in irritation he spoke with a tinge of venom to his words, "Lieutenant, why are you still here?"

Rangiku took note that he hadn't even called her by name, which hurt given what they'd shared last night, and not to mention he usually called her by her first name anyway. It was clear he was still mad, and quite obviously didn't care about anything right now. After several more moments of silence Ichigo only got more irritated.

"Get out!" He spat, pointing towards the door.

"Ichigo, I-"

Before she could finish that sentence Ichigo sprang to his feet, grabbed her by the upper arm, rather roughly at, and forced her toward a door that led to his private quarters, causing the woman to stumble slightly. The twins just exchanged a rather ominous look.

"Ichigo, can you let go of my arm? You're hurting me," Rangiku asked timidly as she was being rushed down a dimly lit hall.

When she got not reply she tried to free herself from her Captain's vice-like grip, to which he responded by squeezing tighter. She relented and decided there'd be no getting out of this one, so she just gritted her teeth and tried to ignore the pain.

After several more seconds the two arrived in the Captain's quarters and Ichigo slid the door open and shoved the woman he had by the arm inside before stepping in himself and almost slamming the shōji shut.

"How can you stand there and act like nothing has happened, like everything is okay?" Ichigo demanded without missing a beat.

"I'm not the one at fault here, you just tried to kill your superior, do you think you can just dodge the fallout for that?"

"This isn't about me!" Ichigo growled, "I'll deal with that when the time comes, right now I'm dealing with you."

"Let's not do this now, Karin and Yu-" Rangiku began.

Ichigo's facial expression changed in an instant, "Don't you dare say their names! Stop trying to change the subject, you're not getting out of this."

Matsumoto gave up, she was going to have to face the music for this one, she realized.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Ichigo, other than I'm sorry. I didn't have a choice in the matter!"

"BULLSHIT YOU DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE!" He roared.

Rangiku flinched at the volume of his voice, and Ichigo took several deep breaths before continuing, "You had a choice, you could have chosen to ignore _his_ orders. You could have chosen to let my sisters stay human."

"If it wasn't me then it would have been somebody else, Ichigo! Captain Suì-Fēng was assigned to the mission too, the Stealth Force would have just kidnapped them and forced them to undergo the process whether they wanted to or not. I talked to them, I convinced them to do it the easy way, to do it for you," Rangiku tried to reason her way out, but it was an exercise in futility.

"The _mission_? So this is just any other assignment to you?" Ichigo spat.

"No that's not what I-"

Ichigo interrupted, "And Suì-Fēng is in on this too? And the Stealth Force? Is the entire Soul Society trying to upset me?!"

"Ichigo..." Rangiku said while taking a step forward, to which Ichigo responded by taking two steps back.

She looked dejected by this gesture, "Do you hate me?"

"Yes."

One simple word, one simple three-letter word. Rangiku never knew something so small as the word 'yes' could hurt so much. Tears instantly began to stream down her face.

"What about last night?" She pleaded.

"What about it?"

"Didn't it mean anything to you? What we shared?"

"_'We'?_" Ichigo scoffed, "I was the furthest thing from your mind last night. You didn't do that because you care about me, you did it because you were trying to push your guilty conscience aside. I may not be experienced but even I can see that."

"NO! You're wrong, Ichigo! I-I..."

Ichigo cut her off, he had a pretty good idea the what the next two words out of her mouth would be, "Don't. Just, don't."

"But I-"

"Get out of my sight," Ichigo cut her off again, "I'm putting in for your transfer to a different division later today. I expect you to have your stuff out of the Squad Ten barracks by tomorrow morning. It's not even noon yet, that should give you plenty of time."

Ichigo didn't wait for a reaction of any kind and darted out the room at a brisk pace, brushing past the devastated woman who fell to the floor and sobbed openly by this point, making no attempt to hold it in.

* * *

_**Things to note;**_

A tatami mat is a type of flooring made of a straw core (sometime plywood or polystyrene in more modern iterations) covered in a softer type of woven straw.  
A kashira is the pommel (or 'butt cap'), it's at the very end of the hilt, opposite the hand guard.


	6. The Beast Within

**A/N:** Whew, here we go. I've been working on this chapter for like a week just spinning my wheels, unable to form a coherent chain of events or get any good ideas. But it's done now and I feel confident about it. It's also the longest chapter I've ever written to date, for any of my stories at about 4,400 words (minutes this author's note). As always I hope you enjoy and don't forget to R&R!

**P.S.** Any of you out there who read my other fics may want to check the "Updates" section of my profile, as it contains new information you may find relevant.

* * *

Rangiku Matsumoto stood in front of her Captain's desk in the Squad Ten Headquarters, ever since his foolhardy stunt yesterday that was trying to kill Yamamoto, tensions had been running high throughout the entire Seireitei. It would be an understatement to say that all unseated squad members, and even a large portion of the seated officers, avoided Ichigo Kurosaki like he was the plague for fear of setting him off and ending up with a large black zanpakutō lodged in their midsection. However, in this particular room it was an even more delicate situation, for the Captain's request to have his Lieutenant transferred to a different division and get a new one in her stead had been instantly denied, so now he was stuck with somebody he whom he made quite clear that he had no desire to even look at. One wrong move could be disastrous.

Ichigo drummed his fingers on the wooden desk a few more times before standing and looking Matsumoto dead in the eye.

"Captain, I-"

"You will speak when spoken to, _Lieutenant_," Ichigo spat, putting unpleasant emphasis on her position as though the very words themselves were bitter on his tongue.

Rangiku straightened up in an instant, "My apologies, sir."

"If I'm stuck with you, I expect you to keep to yourself and perform your duties to the letter without being told thirty times, do I make myself clear?" Ichigo said, with a large degree of anger still present in his voice.

"Yes, Captain, sir."

Unwilling to stick around any longer, Ichigo made for the door to find something else to occupy his day, or possibly some place private and secluded to just waste time. He knew one thing, he was dangerously on edge and any more outbursts of the magnitude that was yesterday's fiasco wouldn't be overlooked, he wasn't even sure that one would be overlooked. Ichigo expected that any day now he'd be out on his ass or thrown in the Maggot's Nest.

"Uh, Ich-" Rangiku stopped herself mid-syllable, realized that now might not be the best time to try to be informal with her superior.

Ichigo turned around at the mention of his name, or part of it anyway. Almost immediately after they made eye contact Ichigo lunged forward, right arm outstretched.

'_He isn't going to kill me for calling his name, is he?_' She thought.

The blond lieutenant screwed her eyes shut tight, tensed up and waited for something that would never come. She felt a figure blow past her at blistering speeds and turned her head as fast as she could to see what was actually going on. What she saw was surprising, there stood Ichigo holding the Captain of the Second Division by the throat with his right hand while keeping the woman's right arm immobilized with a death grip on her wrist, which had a black and gold gauntlet and a golden stinger on her middle finger. The scene lasted for a fraction of a second before Ichigo forcibly changed their positions, slamming the woman into the ground with enough force to splinter several of the wooden floor boards, all the while maintaining his grip to make sure she wouldn't be getting away, or hitting anyone with that troublesome zanpakutō of hers.

Rangiku blinked several times, unsure of what she'd just seen. Was Captain Suì-Fēng really trying to kill Ichigo? Had the Head Captain ordered this? Just then, as if reading her mind, Ichigo began interrogating the woman helplessly pinned underneath him.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Doing what needs to be done,"

"So then you're here to take some petty revenge on me?" Ichigo asked, not disturbed in the slightest.

"Not you, the Lieutenant," Suì-Fēng choked out.

"Why are you after Rangiku?" Ichigo snarled, tightening his grip on the woman's neck.

Now Matsumoto was sure she was dreaming, Ichigo, who had been furious with her just seconds ago not only called her by her first name but seemed visibly angered that anyone would make an attempt on her life.

"Because she clearly can't keep a secret, her lack of discipline is what caused you to lose control and make an attempt on the Head Captain's life, so to prevent any further incidents I came to silence her."

Ichigo made a face at this, "Or maybe it was his lack of common sense that caused it. Yours too, apparently. Have neither of you considered that if my sisters had just been left alone this wouldn't be happening in the first place?"

"Your Lieutenant said the same thing, that is of little consequence now, it has already been done," Suì-Fēng paused for a moment, "I don't see why you stopped me, if you knew I was coming you could have just let me do what I came here to do, I'm not after you. Judging from the lack of even a professional relationship between you two I didn't think you'd mind too much."

Ichigo tightened his grip with nearly all the strength his hand could muster to the point where several pops and choking noises could be heard, and scowled even more fiercely, "You leave her out of this, or next time you people piss me off, you _will_ regret it."

He waited for no response before getting off the woman pinned under him, assuming that yesterday's events coupled with his threat would be enough to convince her that meddling any further would be an exceptionally bad idea. Unfortunately that turned out not to be the case.

Suì-Fēng stood up, brushing herself off from their little scuffle and flash stepped towards the blond woman in the room despite her warnings. After all, she was the commander of the Onmitsukidō, certainly no other Captain, let alone a human that hadn't even lived for two decades yet could be that big of a threat to her. After all, the only reason Ichigo had come so close to killing Yamamoto was a lucky shot, not actual skill.

In the blink of an eye Ichigo had Zangetsu drawn and brought the massive blade down like a guillotine, severing the arm that hosted Suzumebachi just above the eblow when it was mere inches away from a killing blow on Rangiku. Seeing the black butterfly shaped mark on his Lieutenant's chest caused Ichigo's anger to flare wildly as he gripped Zangetsu in his left hand and grabbed the black-haired Captain by the throat once more, throwing her with all of his strength through a wall into the private yard and letting loose the largest Getsuga Tenshō Rangiku had ever seen, black in colour.

When the dust and debris cleared out of the air all that could be seen was Ichigo standing just outside of the hole in the wall with a white-knuckle grip on his sword's hilt and breathing heavily as a shredded and tattered piece of cloth, white on one side, dark orange on the other, gently floated down to the ground.

Rangiku stood absolutely bewildered at the events that had just unfolded, only intensified by the fact that the black mark on her chest signifying her imminent death was completely gone, yet she was still alive. Then she realized it.

'_Did Ichigo just kill someone to protect me?_' She thought with a wide-eyed expression.

"Coward," Ichigo spat, "Since when does she run away from a fight?"

'_Maybe not._' Rangiku mentally correcter her false assumption.

Ichigo stepped back inside, sheathing Zangetsu, and stopped in front of the blond woman in the room when his name was called.

"Ichigo-"

She was cut off by a man roughly grabbing the front of her kosode and yanking her forward so their faces were mere inches apart.

"Don't think we're friends again just because I pulled your ass out of the fire, I only did it so I could punish you myself," Ichigo snarled, and shoved Rangiku back while letting go of her clothing.

Ichigo didn't wait for a reply as he stormed out of the office, slamming the shōji behind him.

"You're being too hard on her, Ichi-nii." A small voice said beside the man in question as he stepped into the hall.

"Do you realize what could have happened to you and Karin, Yuzu? You could have died."

"But we didn't," Karin said from behind her still fuming brother.

"You two could be Hollows right now, you'd have been killed by other Soul Reapers."

"That didn't happen either," She defended again.

Ichigo had taken to shouting now, "But it did happen! Do you two even understand what you've gotten yourselves into?! Just because you're not rampaging through the Seireitei shooting Ceros at anything that moves doesn't mean it can't happen! You've both got an Inner Hollow now, right? If you can't control it, it will control _you_."

The twins didn't say a word to this.

"You can hear them, can't you? You can feel them constantly trying to steal your own body away from you," Ichigo added.

"Y-you know what it's like?" Yuzu asked timidly.

"I do," Ichigo hung his head dejectedly, "Do you guys remember that time almost two years ago when Rukia disappeared, and Dad told you I went to visit some relatives out of town?"

The twins nodded in unison.

"Rukia was brought back here to the Soul Society to be executed for giving her powers to a human, to me. Her brother took my powers away when I tried to stop him. So Urahara gave me my powers back the same way you two got them, and I ended up with a Hollow too."

"B-but, you never turned into a Hollow, you weren't killed by the other Shinigami!" Yuzu stammered.

"You're wrong about the first one, before I learned to control _him_, I lost myself and let him out more times than I can remember. Even after I learned to deal with it I still lost control twice and turned completely into a Hollow. It was more and more difficult to suppress it each time, and he tried taking over more frequently after a while. A hollow isn't something you can just forget about and pretend isn't there, and they can't be stopped by sheer force of will."

"Are you going to teach us how to control it too?" Karin asked.

Ichigo took a deep breath, "I can try, but in the end if you're not strong enough there's nothing I can do."

"W-what do we have to do?" Yuzu stammered again, clearly unnerved by all this talk of hollows.

"Follow me," Ichigo motioned for the twins to fall in as he led them to a special place for dealing with such things.

* * *

The three Kurosaki siblings stood in a massive cavern with rocky terrain. Ichigo just took in the sights, allowing himself to become nostalgic. He hadn't been in here since his bankai training almost two years ago. The twins just stood in awe that such a vast yet secluded place existed at all.

Ichigo snapped his fingers three times in rapid succession to get their attention, "Do you both know the names of your zanpakutō?"

They nodded.

"Did they teach you shikai?"

Karin was the only one to nod this time, Yuzu just tilted her head. Ichigo made a mental note to teach the younger about that later before moving on to controlling her hollow.

"Karin, you're up first then. Release your zanpakutō." Ichigo ordered, while drawing Zangetsu.

Clearly intimidated by the sheer size of her brother's sword, she shakily drew the Jian secured on her right hip. Ichigo noted it was quite an elegant blade, he hadn't had the time or presence of mind to get a good look at it yesterday. The sword had a dark mahogany hilt, a white gold tsuba in the shape of a crescent moon that curled upwards toward the blade, which Ichigo noted seemed to shine unnaturally in this light, as though the metal itself was a very faint light source. The zanpakutō also had a white gold kashira in the shape of a three-leaf clover with ornamental engravings on each leaf that had two white tassels hanging from it. Ichigo also noted the elegance of its scabbard, it was made of the same dark wood as the hilt and was capped on either end by more lavishly engraved white gold, six inches down from the top of the sheath where the sword was returned there was a simpler band of the same metal, and a second another six inches down from that.

Ichigo adjusted his sword so that it was now resting on his shoulder. Something he'd no doubt picked up from Kenpachi and Ikkaku.

Karin cleared her throat and spoke the zanpakutō's release command timidly, "D-dance, Tsukihime."

Those in attendance waited several seconds, but nothing happened.

"Tsukihime? That's quite a girly name for someone like you," Ichigo teased.

Karin just shot him a look.

Putting on a serious face, Ichigo spoke again, "Have you ever released Tsukihime before?"

The raven haired girl just shook her head.

"Don't be so timid about it, speak clearly and with confidence. And remember, your zanpakutō is your partner. It's not just a sword, it's also a being itself. It responds to your voice and how you treat it. If you're weak the sword spirit might decide you're not worthy to wield it, and it may refuse to co-operate with you," The young Captain lectured as though he were giving a lesson to academy students who had just created their own swords for the first time.

Karin took a deep breath and her facial expression morphed into one of determination, "Dance, Tsukihime!"

Instantly the sword began to glow bright white, and it morphed in its wielder's hands. The longsword changed shape into a single-headed meteor hammer, the rope was about four metres long and woven of black silk with flecks of white that emulated the clear night sky. The business end of the weapon consisted of a fist-sized ball that appeared to be made of the same metal as the blade of its sealed form, with the same unnatural shine to it. All around the ball were ribs that started at the sphere's equator and ran along half of it, up to each pole and alternating with every other protrusion. There was also what appeared to be dark purple fur on the silk rope about five inches from the ball.

"Good, now let's go." Ichigo said approvingly.

Karin looked puzzled at this, "Go where?"

"We're going to spar, we need to draw the Hollow out of you first if you're going to learn to control it. Once you begin to hollowfy you will be pulled into your Inner World where you will fight your hollow self, in the mean time your physical body will be gradually undergoing a full hollowfication, I'm going to need to keep you busy by sparring with you while you fight your Hollow."

"But what if I can't win?" Karin asked.

"You can, you have to," Ichigo practically whispered the last three words to himself, unwilling to think about what he'd have to do to his own sister if she wasn't strong enough. That was one Hollow he absolutely refused to kill.

* * *

After nearly an hour of sparring Karin was about exhausted, Ichigo barely breathing heavy from having held back most of his strength so they could fight on equal terms, overpowering her on occasion to try and force the beast out.

"This is useless, Ichigo," Karin complained between ragged breaths.

"No it's not, just keep trying."

"I have been!" She shouted, voice taking on the echo he knew all too well.

Karin looked up, clearly angered by the last hour of fruitless fighting. Then Ichigo realized it, it wasn't fighting that would draw it out, she needed to get angry.

"Yeah, you're right. This is pointless. You're just too weak. What was I thinking? You could never be a Shinigami, and you certainly don't have what it takes to tame a hollow."

"Ichigo!" Yuzu scolded, but the young Captain just ignored her. He would apologize later, but right now this was the only way to help.

Karin's irises had turned yellow by this point, the whites of her eyes turning black as a white mask began forming above her left eyebrow.

"Weak? I'll show you who's weak!" The Hollow said, punctuating its threat with maniacal laughter.

Before Ichigo could react he was struck in the gut by his sister's fist, and with more force than he would have expected her small frame to be capable of. The blow sent Ichigo flying backwards several metres.

The hollowfied version of his sister began swinging around the meteor like a lasso, Ichigo noted just how barbarically this hollow fought, much like his own used to. Compared to the eloquence and mystifying grace with which Karin moved in an almost rhythmic and captivating dance earlier while wielding the weapon this was quite a profane display of brute force. The sphere on the end of the silk rope began to gather black spirit energy with a dark purple glow to it just before it was sent flying at the eldest Kurosaki sibling. Ichigo tried to block with Zangetsu but only succeeded in getting the blade tangled with Tsukihime, resulting in him being jerked forward and off his feet.

When Ichigo landed mere inches from his hollowfied sister's feet she brought down a clawed fist, which was now covered in a white Hierro that ran up her right arm to the shoulder. Ichigo rolled to the side to dodge the blow, and lucky he did as the force of the punch left a small crater. The Hollow howled with indignation as more of the white "skin" began forming over his sister's body. The mask was fully manifested by this time, it was simple in design but still somehow managed to be intimidating. The hollow's mask had no mouth, at least not one that was visible, but instead had four eyes, each as black as night with a glowing yellow light peering out from inside, around each eye socket was a purple outline which swept upwards into a point on the outside and swept downwards into a point on the inside. The mask also sported horns on the top of the head which were about nine inches long and five inches apart and almost appeared to be slicked back, tapering upwards slightly at the end. There was also a purple mane that covered the "skull" almost like a full head of hair, it also covered the neck and hung down to Karin's mid back.

The Hollow began swinging the meteor like a lasso once more and sent it flying, only this time it let go of the rope to use the weapon as a distraction. Ichigo took the bait and watched the sphere as it flew past his head, when he looked back he saw the partially hollowfied version of his sister holding her cupped hands about six inches apart, palms facing each other, barely a few centimetres from her chest. Ichigo was confused by this display momentarily before a violet ball of energy began to form in between the Hollow's hands.

"CERO! Yuzu, get down!" Ichigo shouted.

The younger of the twins complied immediately and ducked behind a large rock. Ichigo put his free hand in front of his face and prepared to don his own mask to lessen the blow, only to have nothing happen when he ripped his hand away.

'_Shit._' He exclaimed mentally, realizing this was going to hurt.

"Bankai!" Ichigo shouted at the last minute.

When the dust cleared Ichigo was leaning on Tensa Zangetsu for support, breathing heavily and visibly worse for wear from taking the blast head on. The Cero was powerful, but unfocused. If the hollow knew how to control it better it could easily be on par with a Cero Oscuras in terms raw of destructive power. Ichigo got back to his feet fully with a bit of difficulty, only to have a now fully hollowfied Karin perform Sonído, with a resealed Tsukihime in hand, and appear behind him while bringing the sword down on him in a vicious slash.

Ichigo flash stepped out of the way, causing sparks to fly as the Jian hit the the rocky terrain. He took a minute to look his sister over, he noted there was nothing terribly remarkable about her fully hollowfied appearance either, aside from the colouration on the head the Hierro on the rest of the body was completely white, but it had sharp ridges and dangerous curves that made it seem intimidating all the same.

The Hollow roared in fury again from having its prey escape and performed Sonído once more, completely vanishing from sight.

'_This Hollow is fast._' Ichigo thought.

Another wild and powerful swing of the sword came at Ichigo, this time from the left side. He succeeded in blocking with his own blade but the raw power sent him flying for what felt like the hundredth time in five minutes. Having gained the upper hand, the hollowfied girl resorted to copying her brother's techniques and began moving at incredible speeds, leaving several after-images of herself and striking out from all directions seemingly all at once.

'_How is this happening? She's... Too strong..._' Ichigo thought. He hadn't expected Karin's hollow to be this powerful, it was possibly more dangerous than his own had been, which was frightening to think about.

Ichigo was hopelessly cornered now, he was on the defensive, completely unable to get in any counter attacks, several of the blows even got past Zangetsu due to their raw speed, which was itself surprising considering how much Ichigo's own reflexed were amplified in bankai.

The Hollow howled once more, stopping directly in front of the young Captain who was now breathing heavily and was cut up in several places, bleeding and wearing tattered clothes.

Ichigo raised Tensa Zangetsu to defend, but he was too slow in his weakened state and the Hollow brought up it's right fist and punched Ichigo in the solar plexus, sending him flying into the wall several metres behind him with incredible force, enough to crack the wall. Ichigo fell to the ground limply, unable to continue the fight. Forget having to kill this hollow, the hollow would kill _him_ first.

Ichigo heard a woman's voice just then as the hollow was beginning to deliver the final blow.

"Growl, Haineko!"

Just then a cloud of ash blew in between the two Kurosaki siblings, keeping them apart, and keeping Ichigo alive. But it turned out to be an unnecessary measure as the hollowfied Karin stopped dead in her tracks, Hierro cracking and falling away in pieces. Over several seconds the pieces all fell to the ground, shattering, turning to dust and blowing away in an imaginary wind. All that remained of the Hollow was the mask and purple mane, which turned into black reiatsu and vanished, revealing the eldest twin after having conquered her hollow.

"Ichigo!" She called out.

The teen in question spoke weakly, "You did it, Karin. Good job..."

Rangiku stepped over her Captain, kneeling by his side and resealing Haineko in the process. Ichigo just looked her in the eyes and tried to speak before blacking out, unable to get his vocal cords to co-operate with what his brain was telling them to do.

* * *

**Chapter Excerpts** - I originally intended the confrontation with Suì-Fēng to go a bit differently, but I quickly realized I'd be painting myself into a corner and wouldn't be able to take things in the direction I had envisioned, but I figured you might like to see what was going to happen in the first iteration anyway.

**_(Immediately after the shredded piece of _****_Suì-Fēng's haori flutters to the ground after _**Ichigo throws her through the wall and launches a Getsuga Tenshō at her.)

Before Ichigo could move three figures clad in all black with only their eyes visible behind a black head covering appeared around him, two on either side restraining his arms and forcing the young Captain into a kneeling position and one holding a katana to his throat from behind. Seconds later four figures also clad in black, but with white head coverings that had long strips of cloth hanging down the font and the back, appeared around him, forming hand seals and chanting the incantations to several different high level Bakudō spells, thoroughly binding the man so he wouldn't be able to so much as twitching a muscle under his own power if they didn't will it.

"Hey!" Rangiku shouted, all ten pairs of eyes turning to look at her, "What's the Kidō Corps and Onmitsukidō doing here, and what do you think you're doing to my Captain?"

The man who had held his sword to Ichigo's throat, but was now holding Zangetsu, was the one to reply, "Captain Kurosaki is under arrest by orders of the Commander of the Detention Unit."

"On what charges?" Matsumoto demanded.

"Attempted assassination of Captain-Commander Yamamoto and the murder of Captain Suì-Fēng," The man replied.

"Ichigo was just protecting me!"

The man scoffed, "Captain Kurosaki openly defied the Head Captain's orders for your assassination and cut down a comrade who was carrying out her mission in cold blood, no excuse is going to get him out of this one."

* * *

**_Things to note;_**

A Jian is a double-edged straight sword of Chinese origin.  
A meteor hammer is a weapon consisting of one (for the single-headed version) or two (for the double-headed version) weights on the ends of a rope that can be anywhere from 3 to 5 metres long. Also of Chinese origin.  
Tsukihime means Lunar Princess in Japanese.


End file.
